History of the World Athletics Championships

The World Athletics Championships is the jewel in the crown of the sport’s global competition programme and the third-largest sporting event in the world after the Olympic Games and football’s World Cup. 

Since the foundation of the IAAF (now World Athletics) in 1912, the Olympic Games had been, by constitution, the World Championships of the sport. But from the 1960s onwards, an increasingly strong lobby was formed among members convinced that they too should have their own separate World Championships. In 1976 an IAAF Council meeting in Puerto Rico approved the move and Helsinki was later selected as the host of the inaugural IAAF World Championships in 1983. 

Sandwiched between the heavily boycotted 1980 and 1984 Olympic Games, the first World Championships featured about 1300 athletes from 154 countries and was a resounding success.

Carl Lewis announced his arrival as a global superstar by taking gold in the 100m, long jump and 4x100m, while home fans went wild after Tiina Lillak struck gold in the javelin courtesy of her sixth-round throw. 

Rome staged the second edition of the World Championships, where Bulgaria’s Stefka Kostadinova cleared 2.09m to win the high jump – a world record that stood for 37 years. 

The 1991 World Championships in Tokyo is fondly remembered as one of the finest in the 40-year history of the event as it produced one of the great duels in athletics history. Lewis, who had secured a third world 100m title in a world record time of 9.86, surpassed Bob Beamon’s 23-year-old world record distance of 8.90m in the long jump with a wind-aided 8.91m. But his US teammate Mike Powell responded to the challenge, soaring out to a wind-legal 8.95m – a world record that still stands today. 

Such had been the success of the fledgling event, the championships switched from a quadrennial to a biennial cycle, with Stuttgart hosting the 1993 edition. World records from British hurdling duo Colin Jackson and Sally Gunnell were among the highlights. 

The triple jump took centre stage at the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg as Jonathan Edwards and Inessa Kravets set world records in the men’s and women’s events, respectively. 

In 1997, Sergey Bubka secured a remarkable sixth successive world pole vault title with a championship record of 6.01m. A total of 26 countries earned gold medals at those championships, underlining the sport’s global reach. 

Michael Johnson’s stunning 400m world record of 43.18 provided the high point of the 1999 edition in Seville. The championships took another stride towards equality as the women’s hammer and pole vault were added to the programme. 

The likes of Eliud Kipchoge, Kenenisa Bekele and Carolina Kluft emerged as stars at the 2003 edition in Paris, while in 2005 Helsinki became the first two-time host of the World Championships.

Just 12 months after Usain Bolt burst on to the global athletics scene at the Beijing Olympics, the Jamaican superstar lit up the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, posting jaw-dropping world records of 9.58 and 19.19 in the 100m and 200m, then adding a third gold in the 4x100m.

Bolt’s false start – and subsequent disqualification – from the 100m may have been one of the biggest talking points of the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, but Australia’s Sally Pearson produced one of the best performances of the event, clocking a championship record of 12.28 in the 100m hurdles. 

Mo Farah retained his 10000m title in 2013 and added the 5000m gold for good measure. Bolt, meanwhile, and his Jamaican teammate Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce each won a trio of sprint gold medals in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m. 

Bolt and Farah successfully defended their titles in 2015, while Ashton Eaton retained his decathlon title with a world record of 9045. Further highlights came from Wayde van Niekerk, who announced his arrival on the global scene with his 400m victory, and Dafne Schippers, who won a high-quality 200m final in a championship record of 21.63.

Played out to huge crowds inside London’s Olympic Stadium, the 2017 event was one of the most compelling and competitive editions to date, packed with close finishes and surprise winners. The loudest roars of the championships came when the host nation, Great Britain, won a surprise gold in the men’s 4x100m.

In 2019 the world’s best athletes descended on Doha, where Dalilah Muhammad ran a world record of 52.16 to win the 400m hurdles and Joe Kovacs prevailed in a superb shot put showdown, throwing a championship record of 22.91m to beat Ryan Crouser and Tom Walsh by a single centimetre.

The 2022 championships in Oregon was the most universal edition so far, with 29 countries winning gold medals and more nations than ever before seeing their athletes reach finals. Three world records were set: Tobi Amusan ran 12.12 in the 100m hurdles, Sydney McLaughlin clocked 50.68 in the 400m hurdles, and Mondo Duplantis cleared 6.21m in the pole vault.

Several athletes won two individual titles at the 2023 edition in Budapest. Noah Lyles won the men’s 100m/200m double, then added a third gold medal in the 4x100m. Faith Kipyegon won the women’s 1500m and 5000m, while Spanish duo Maria Perez and Alvaro Martin each won a 20km and 35km race walk double.

The World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25, from 13-21 September, will be the 20th edition as Japan becomes the first country to host the World Championships three times.